Machinery for fluid transfer and apportioning



June 5, 1962 w. F. DAVIS 3,037,450

- MACHINERY FOR FLUID TRANSFER AND APPORTIONING Filed Feb. 20, 1959 United States Patent @fifice 3,037,450 Patented June 5, 1962 3,037,450 MACHINERY FOR FLUID TRANFER AND APPGRTIGNING William F. Davis, Windsor, NJ. (R0. Box 179, Hightstown, NJ.) Filed Feb. 20, 1959, Ser. No. 794,738

8 Claims. (Cl. 101-350) The present invention relates to new and useful improvements in machinery for transferring and apportioning of fluids. More particularly, the invention 1s concerned with fluid transfer and apportioning as applied to the inking mechanism of printing presses.

Objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part hereinafter and in part will be obvious here from, or may be learned by practice with the invention, the same being realized and attained by the instrumentalities and combination pointed out in the appended claims.

The invention consists in novel parts, constructions, arrangements, combinations and improvements herein described and disclosed.

The accompanying drawings, referred to herein and constituting a part hereof, illustrate the embodiments of the invention, and together with the description, serve to explain the principle of the invention.

The present invention has for its object the provision of a novel and improved method of transferring and apportioning fluid, such as ink, and the machinery to accomplish this improved method of fluid transfer and apportioning.

The prime object of the present invention is to provide a very high speed fluid transfer means to transfer fluids such as ink from slowly moving supply drums to high speed rotating fluid taking drums.

A second object of the invention is to provide a simple means to shut off the fluid flow from the fluid fountain drum to the other machine components.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a simple positive means to apportion the fluid along the length of the fluid handling drums in short independent-1y controlled increments.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art.

Referring to the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a schematic representation of the present invention depicting the basic components and their relationship to each other.

FIGURE 2 is a diagrammatic presentation of the apportioning and shut off control components as well as a form of the driving and supporting mechanism.

While the invention is. susceptible of various modifications and alternate constructions and uses, I have depicted in the drawings and disclosed in detail herein preferred embodiments of the invention. It is understood, however, that the broader aspects of the invention are not limited to the specific mechanisms shown and described but departures maybe made therefrom within the spirit and scope of the accompanying claims without sacrificing its concomitant benefits and advantages. Therefore, I do not intend tolimit the invent-ion by the aforesaid drawings and description but intend to cover all modifications and alternate constructions falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

In the following, the invention will be disclosed as applied to a publication printing press, to illustrate a particularly well suited application of the invention, and therefore the terminology will conform to that employed in such machinery. In accordance with the illustrative embodiments shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 the transfer mechanism comprises a rotating fluid supply drum protween the diverging surfaces of the drums.

vided with a fountain and fluid film thickness regulating blade, said regulating blade being regulated by a series of screws 4 which are axially disposed along the length of the blade, and a fluid taking drum rotating in the opposite direction as the fluid supply drum. All these components are of conventional form. Now, the fluid taking drum 5 is located very close to the fluid supply drum 1 and a transfer blade 7 is disposed an edge in the proximity of the line of centers of the supply and fluid taking drums with its major axis radiating outward be- This blade is actuated to skim fluid from the fluid supply drum and then to traverse the small space separating the drums and thence deposit the fluid on the fluid taking drum.

In order to print an image with high fidelity the ink feed should be as continuous as possible, to avoid tonal variations etc. In practice it has been found necessary to rotate the fluid ink supply drum at relatively slow speeds as compared to the high speed rotation of the fluid taking drum. This necessitates an oscillatory transfer element, which heretofore has been made to traverse a large space for various reasons. Ductors on high speed printing equipment are made to cycle 'as fast as possible; the limiting factor being the pounding induced by the oscillatory forces.

In the present invention these forces have been reduced in magnitude, to permit the increase in duct cyclic rates, by two means. The first was the reduction of the space between the two drums, which coact with the transfer blade, to a constant value of approximately 25% of that employed previously thereby reducing the forces, induced by the transfer element, in direct proportion. The second means of improvement was the employment of a driving means, described below, which reduced the polar moment of inertia, comparable to the radius of \gyration in many ductor configurations, to a value 20% of that found in conventional ductor transfer mechanisms. This reduces the elastic deflections as well as the need for massive rigid mechanism components since the effect of the polar moment is a square function.

The discovery of the ink transfer technique of the present invention therefore makes it feasible to increase the cyclic oscillatory rates of ink transfer by a factor of the order of 100. This high speed transfer of ink permits the high fidelity reproduction of printed images heretofore not possible. Referring to FIGURE 2, this drawing discloses how the ink feed may be shut off in page wide increments as is often necessary when the page capacity, or width being printed, is reduced.

Heretofore page wide shut off devices have functioned on the fountain roll, the fountain, or employed special reduced covering rollers. In FIGURE 2, a frame 9 supports a plurality of levers 10 across the Width of the machine. Levers 10 are positioned on the frame 9 by two means. The first provides independent control of each lever and therefore each blade 7 across the machine width. This first positioning means comprises a plurality of adjusting screws 14, one for each blade 7, and a plurality of springs, or resilient means, 12 to oppose the action of the screws 14, or the cam detent bar 11. The second positioning control is a collective mechanism employing the above parts with the cam bar 11. Cam bar 11 is shown with the transfer blades in the operating position, with the screws 14 controlling each blade. When cam bar 11 is rotated degrees it contacts a page group of blades 7, i.e. their levers 10 and moves them against the springs 12, pivoting the working edge of the blades 7 away from the ink supply drum a distance great enough to preclude pick up of ink, thereby shutting off the ink feed along that length of the ink motion.

The number of blades disposed across the machine is usually made to conform to .the number of columns being,

6 or capable of, being printed. As can be seen in the phantom image in FIGURE 2 the working edge of the blade 7 is presented to the supply drum 1 in a non tangential relationship. The pivoting of the levers therefore varies the distance of the blades edge to the drum 1 and therefore the depth of ink intercept, which in turn controls the volume of ink skimmed from the ink supply drum.

The transfer blade functions by skimming a volume of fluid from the supply drum with the blades working edge, collecting this volume of fluid on the side of the blade, then moving across the gap between the drums l and 5 and presenting the blades side to the fluid taking drum 5 in a tangential relationship with drum 5 to permit the drum to wipe the fluid from the blades 7.

When a drum rotates at high speed and a blade is brought close to its surface in a tangential relationship as is required to wipe the ink from the transfer blade 7 there occurs a pressure and a velocity head, similar to the hydrodynamic pressure developed in journal hearings, in the fluid between the blade 7 and the drum 5. As the fluid issues past the blade this pressure tends to induce spraying, or splattering, of the ink film. This effect is materially reduced by causing the blade '7 to have its working surfaces and edges actuated to traverse an excursion which conforms closely to the surface of the drum 5 when the ink is being wiped from the blade. The condition is particularly improved with the blade moving through the excursion in the direction which conforms with the direction of motion of the periphery of drum 5 at the transfer of fluid. This mode of blade motion minimizes the major pressure head which is developed by the difference in velocities of the drum 5 and the blades 7, and results in a satisfactory fluid transfer.

In the descriptions above and the claims the word fluid has been used to simplify the disclosure. By fluid I include homogeneous fluids, solutions of homogeneous fluid, mixtures of fluids and solids or other fluid, and the like substances. The driving means mentioned above to actuate the transfer blades 7 through the desired excursions is depicted in a preferred construction in FIGURE 2. The driving element is a crank 8 which supports the frame 9 at one end and drives it as a drag link of the four bar linkage. The lever 6 guides and supports the other end of the frame 9. In the construction shown it has been found advantageous to have the blades 7 made of a resilient material. Referring to FIGURE 2, the phantom line loop depicts the path or excursion of the working edge of the blade 7. It is clear that there are many equivalent mechanisms which can cause the blade to transverse the required excursion at the preferred velocities and with the blades actuated to present the working surfaces and edges to the drums as disclosed above and the disclosure of the four bar linkage is made as a preferred configuration which is not intended to limit the invention.

While the above specification and the drawings depict the drum 5 rotating in the opposite direction to the supply drum 1 it is clear the rotation may be reversed and all the benefits of the invention realized. When the direction of the drums 1 and 5 is the same it is preferred to also reverse the direction of the driving cranks S rotation.

What I claim is:

1. A fluid transfer mechanism comprising, in combination, a rotating fluid supply drum with fountain, regulating blade and axially disposed fluid film regulating means; a fluid taking means initiating with a rotating drum disposed parallel to said fluid supply drum and with a small space separating said drums; a transfer blade with its working edge in the proximity of the line of centers of said drums and said blades major axis radiating outward between the diverging surfaces of said drums; said supply drum rotating to cause its periphery to move from said regulating blade to the working edge of said transfer blade and thence past the transfer blade; said fluid taking drum rotating in the opposite direction to said fluid supply drum; and a driving means to displace and support said transfer blade in such manner as to cause said blades working edge and side to traverse through an excursion, at high speed, presenting said transfer blade to said fluid supply drum in a non tangential relationship, scooping or skimming fluid from said supply drum and collecting it on said side of said transfer blade, and then traversing said space to said fluid taking drum and presenting said blades side to said fluid taking drum in an approximately tangential relationship permitting the fluid to be wiped from said transfer blade by said fluid taking drum.

2. A fluid transfer mechanism comprising, in combination, a rotating fluid supply drum with fountain, regulating blade and axially disposed fluid film regulating means; a fluid taking means initiating with a rotating drum disposed parallel to said fluid supply drum and with a small space separating said drums; a plurality of axially disposed transfer blades with their working edge in the proximity of the line on centers of said drums and said blades major axis radiating outward between the surfaces of said drums; said fluid supply drum rotating to cause its periphery to move from said regulating blade to the working edge of said transfer blades and then past said transfer blade; said fluid taking drum rotating in the opposite direction to said fluid supply drum; a frame on Y which said transfer blades are positionable in an operating and a nonoperating position, said nonoperating position facilitating shut off of fluid transfer along the axial length of the mechanism controlled by said blade or blades, a driving means to displace and support said frame in such manner as to cause the transfer blades working edges and sides to traverse through an excursion, at high speed, presenting said transfer blades edges to said fluid supply drum in a nontangential relationship, scooping or skimming fluid from said supply drum and collecting it on the side of said transfer blades, and then traversing the space to said fluid taking drum and presenting the sides of said transfer blades to said fluid taking drum in a tangential relationship permitting the fluid to be wiped from said transfer blades by said fluid taking drum.

3. A fluid transfer and apportioning mechanism comprising, in combination, a rotating fluid supply drum with fountain or regulating blade restricting the application of fluid to said supply drum to a uniform thick film around the periphery moving past said regulating blade; a fluid taking means initiating with a rotating drum disposed parallel to said fluid supply drum and with a small space separating said drums; a plurality of axially disposed blades with their working edge in the proximity of the line of centers of said drums and their major axis radiating outward between the diverging surfaces of said drums; said fluid supply drum rotating to cause its periphery to move from said regulating blade to said working edges of said transfer blades and then past said transfer blades; said fluid taking drum rotating in the same direction as said fluid supply drum; a frame on which said transfer blades are positionable individually to vary the minimum distance from the working edge of said transfer blades to the surface of said fluid supply drum thereby apportioning individually controllable quantities of fluid to each of said axially disposed transfer blades in proportion to the depth of the fluid to be skimmed from said fluid supply drum by each blade, and a driving means to displace and support said frame in such manner as to cause said transfer blades working edges and sides to traverse through an excursion, at high speed, presenting said transfer blades working edges to said fluid supply drum in a nontangential relationship, and then transversing the space to said fluid taking drum and presenting the side of said transfer blades to said fluid taking drum in an approximately tangential relationship permitting said fluid to be wiped from said transfer blades by said fluid taking drum.

4. A fluid transfer and apportioning mechanism according to claim 3 wherein the transfer blades are arranged in groups of axially disposed transfer blades, each group being individually positionable in an operating and a nonoperating position on said frame, said nonoperating position facilitating the shut off of fluid transfer of the group of transfer blades collectively so positioned.

5. A fluid transfer mechanism comprising, in combination, a rotating fluid supply drum; a fluid taking means initiating with a rotating drum disposed parallel to said fluid supply drum with a small space separating said drums; a transfer blade with its working edge in the proximity of the line of centers of said drums and its major axis radiating outward between the diverging surfaces of said drums; a four bar linkage mechanism comprising a movable frame supporting said transfer blade, a rotatable crank supporting one end of said movable frame and displacing and driving said linkage mechanism through a cyclicly recurring excursion, and a lever supporting and controlling the motion of said movable frame in cooperation with said driving crank; said four bar linkage proportioned and constructed to cause said transfer blade to be presented to said fluid supply drum in a nontangential relationship to said drum, then to traverse said space between said drums and present said transfer blade to said fluid taking drum in a tangential relationship to said drum, then to return to said fluid supply drum and repeat said excursion.

6. A fluid transfer mechanism comprising, in combination, a rotating fluid supply drum with fountain, regulating blade and axially disposed fluid film regulating means; a fluid taking means initiating with a rotating drum disposed parallel to said fluid supply drum and with a small space separating said drums; a transfer blade with its working edge in the proximity of the line of centers of said drums and said blades major axis radiating outward between the diverging surfaces of said drums; said fluid supply drum rotating to cause its periphery to move from said regulating blade to the working edge of the transfer blade and then past said transfer blade; said fluid taking drum rotating in the same direction as said fluid supply drum; and a driving means to displace and support said transfer blade in such manner as to cause said blades working edge and side to traverse through an excursion, at high speed, presenting said transfer blade to said fluid supply drum in a nontangential relationship, scooping or skimming fluid from said supply drum and collecting it on said side of said transfer blade, and then traversing the space to said fluid taking drum and presenting the side of said transfer blade to said fluid taking drum in a tangential relationship permitting the fluid to be wiped from said transfer blade by said fluid taking drum.

7. A fluid transfer mechanism comprising, in combination, a rotating fluid supply drum; a fluid taking means comprising and initiating with a rotating drum disposed parallel to said fluid supply drum and with a small space separating said drums; a fluid transfer blade with its working edge in the proximity of the line o-f'centers of said drums and its major axis radiating outward between the surfaces of said drums; a four bar linkage comprising a movable frame supporting said transfer blade, a driven rotating crank supporting one end of said movable frame and also displacing and oscillating said movable frame, and a lever supporting, guiding and controlling the motion of said movable frame in cooperation with said crank; said linkage proportioned and constructed to cause said transfer blade to be presented to said fluid supply drum in a non-tangential relationship to said drum and moving slowly through this portion of its excursion, then to traverse said space to said fluid taking drum and present the transfer blade to the fluid taking drum in a tangential relationship to said drum and traverse an excursion which maintains this tangential relationship for a relatively long period of time while said transfer blade is moving rapidly through the tangential portion of the excursion in the same direction of motion as said periphery of said coacting fluid taking drum, then to return to said fluid supply drum and repeat said cycle; said driven crank rotating at a rate of rotation proportional to the rate of the fluid taking means.

8. A fluid transfer means as set forth in claim 7 wherein said four bar linkage mechanism comprises a plurality of said cranks rotating in synchronism and axially disposed at the lateral ends of said movable frame; and a plurality of said levers supporting said movable frame and guiding and controlling the motion of said frame in cooperation with said cranks, said levers being axially disposed at the lateral ends of said movable frame.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,185,669 Hoe June 6, 1916 1,185,670 Hoe June 6, 1916 1,514,991 Rees Nov. 11, 1924 1,982,830 Richter Dec. 4, 1934 2,817,293 Willard Dec. 24, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,073,166 France Mar. 17, 1954 

